Had a situation here when I moved back home the local cops couldn't control.
Word to the wise with the local thugs that the cops allow to exist, and those people were gone from the neighborhood, and this street got crime free.
Police aren't magic. They can't do everything.
Generally, as they are today, they make things worse.
I still won't call a cop here for any reason.
If it's bad enough, one will show up to take a statement after things cool down.
/johnny
We had drug dealers in the house across the street for a couple of weeks. One morning they opened their front door to find a gasoline can on the front step with a BIC lighter on top of it. They moved their operation elsewhere immediately and moved themselves out of the neighborhood a few days later. I found out some time later who was the fellow who provided the warning. He was an acquaintance of another neighbor and comes from a family that had got a reputation for arson-for-hire.